


Where's Our Happy Ending?

by danibellew10280



Category: Adventure Time
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, Death, Depression, F/F, Fluff, Homophobia, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Mild Smut, POV Alternating, Possible Eating Disorder Triggers, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-15
Updated: 2017-03-03
Packaged: 2018-05-26 09:13:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 26
Words: 18,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6232954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/danibellew10280/pseuds/danibellew10280
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What happens when the cute couple doesn't get their "happily ever after"?</p><p>(Just be aware that death is something hinted at and discussed in far too many chapters to always tag individually, so always be expecting it, other triggers and such should be tagged in the chapter notes at the beginning of each chapter in question)</p><p>I promise I'm trying to work on getting back into this - 3/28/18</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> For any questions/concerns about this story, please email me at danibellew10280@gmail.com  
> Please do not use my email as a replacement for the comments section

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> August 2016

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Marceline

_Slowly Marceline moved her hand to behind the girl's neck lacing her fingers through her light red hair. She gasped contently as the girl gently pressed kisses to her jaw and neck. The girl began leaning against her more pressing the weight of her body down on her's and straddling her waist. One hand teased at the top button of Marceline's flannel shirt while the other started to find its way up her back lightly grazing her spine. She pulled the girl down harder unable to stand the distance between them and kissed her hard. She seemed startled, but quickly began to kiss Marceline back with the same intensity. Finally the girl's fingers began undoing her top button and-_

"Ms. Abadeer."

     Marceline jolted up in her seat feeling the blush spread across her cheeks as the class snickered. Mr. Petrikov was writing on the blackboard with his back turned to the class, that had to have been the fourth time in just that week he'd caught her sleeping while not even looking. She cast a glance towards the clock showing there was only ten minutes until school let out, he'd let her sleep in today. Marceline then turned to look at Bonnibel in the front row, she doubted she'd even noticed what had just happened she was so entranced with their math lesson. She proceeded to spend the next ten minutes watching her silently hoping no one would notice.

     The bell rang pulling her out of yet another daydream and she stood picking up her books and moving for the door instinctively when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Marceline spun around quickly to see Mr. Petrikov standing directly in front of her.

     "Marceline, this is the sixth time this week alone you have fallen asleep in my class. I do not expect this to happen again, otherwise I will be forced to contact your parents on the matter." He was using the same voice he uses during his lectures in class, completely devoid of emotion and respect.

     She nodded curtly in response, refraining from rolling her eyes until she had turned. She made her way to her locker slowing down slightly to cast a glace to where Bonnibel sat in the library. She stopped and looked around before proceeding to blatantly stare. Marceline sighed remembering the days they used to be friends. It was so long ago, it felt like a different lifetime. She doubted Bonnibel even remembered her. She had all but forgotten her as well up until this year when she ended up in the same math class as her, and now it took everything she had not to think about her; sometimes that still wasn't enough.

     She began walking away again, realizing she would soon attract attention to herself if she stayed. Stopping in front of her locker to quickly retrieve her backpack and put her books away Marceline noticed she had left her MP3 player in Mr. Petrikov's room. She groaned turned to look down the hallway his classroom light was on, but quickly decided she would pick it up tomorrow when she knew she wouldn't be questioned for being there. Marceline made her way to the front office where her father was finishing up at the main desk and tossed her backpack onto the table next to the wall. Habitually she reached into her pocket for her MP3 before remembering she'd have to wait until tomorrow before she could listen to anything away from home.

     When her father finally picked up his laptop bag and made his way to where Marceline stood, she had lifted her backpack over her shoulder already and was waiting in the doorway impatiently. Her father placed his hand on the small of her back causing Marceline to visibly tense and walked with her to the parking lot. When they reached the car Marceline quickly climbed into the passenger seat, desperate to get away from her father's failed attempt at being.. well fatherly. She reached for the button to turn on the radio, but as expected her father slapped her hand away before she'd gotten anywhere near the dashboard. Marceline sighed and turned to look out the window, watching the trees she'd long since memorized the patterns of until they arrived at her home.

     Marceline was out of the car and on the threshold before her father had even opened his door. She sat down on the staircase and began unlacing her high tops as her father walked into the foyer.

     "Marceline."

     She looked up and promptly passed out.


	2. Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonnibel  
> Warning(s): Death , Implied/Refrenced Self-Harm

     The hard library chair was finally beginning to make Bonnibel uncomfortable. She shifted awkwardly before looking up from her books, all the other students had long since left and the clock on the wall proved it was well after eleven when she normally left for home. She sighed and began putting her books and papers away when Finn suddenly burst into the room.

     "There you are! Lauren and I have been looking everywhere for you!"

     "Um... Why?"

      "I.. Well... You see.." He blushed.

     Bonnibel rolled her eyes and swung her backpack over one shoulder while making her way to where Finn stood.

     "Come on Ben. Let's hurry. Lauren's worried enough." Finn grabbed Bonnibel's wrist and led her out to the street where Lauren was leaning against the hood of her parents' car looking tremendously bored. She perked up slightly at the sight of the two which Bonnibel found surprising.

     "Bennett! Finn! There y'all are!" She directed her attention to Finn, "I told you she'd be there! Think of how much time we could've saved if we'd just come here first."

     Finn blushed again and let go of Bonnibel's wrist who was still baffled about the whole situation. He looked up at her seeming to want her to say something, but she had no idea how she was meant to react, so she stayed silent. Finn was clearly disappointed, but he smiled broadly anyway. He moved behind Bonnibel and began pushing her towards the car.

     "Back seat. Come on."

     She sighed and walked the rest of the way to where Lauren was waiting. Finn bounded up beside them and looked as though he was going to force Lauren to move but thought better of it when she shot him a glare. Bonnibel rolled her eyes at them and opened the driver's side rear door. She sat inside the car watching Finn and Lauren argue about something through the windshield until they climbed in as well. The rode in silence for nearly an hour before Bonnibel began nodding off. Finn finally spoke up snapping her back to the real world.

     "Bennett."

     "Hm...?"

     "Guessed where we're going yet?"

     Bonnibel shook her head and closed her eyes again. Finn sighed and leaned towards Lauren to whisper something. Bonnibel suddenly felt the car lurch and was once again jolted awake when the car came to a halt and the front door swung open.

     "Stay there!" Finn called from outside.

     Bonnibel groaned and laid down across the back seat growing even more exhausted. She finally fell asleep not long after Lauren and Finn left.

      _Sweat plastered Bonnibel's hair to her neck and she looked around, black smoke clouding her vision._

_"Help!_

_"Someone!_

_"Please!_

_"Help us!'_

_"Oh Lord! It burns! Help!"_

_She quickly covered her ears unable to stand the sound of everyone in pain. She knelt down feeling the flames dance closer to her as she herself began to scream out. She felt hands on hers as she was lifted to her feet. She looked around in the hopes of seeing who had picked her up, but collapsed once again from the pain of moving. She could feel herself burning alive._

_"Bonnie!"_

_Bonnibel's eyes shot open and she saw her mother's charred face staring back at her. She felt her arms go around her and waited as her breathing slowed and eventually ceased. She wanted to cry, she wanted to curl up somewhere away from these evil flames and cry forever. Her dad must be there. He must be dead too. She wanted to welcome the death that was eating away at her, but it was like she wouldn't die. Like she'd be forced to stay there for the rest of time, serving the punishment for whatever she had done to deserve this._

Bonnibel started to open her eyes, but shut them quickly to block out the bright light of wherever she was. It was cold, she knew that much. And it felt like she was sitting now. Something poked her shoulder and she forced herself to open her eyes again. Lauren was sitting in a chair beside her. Everything was so white and clean and.. Bonnibel sat up straight realizing where she was.

     "Lauren-" She started.

     "Finn.. while we were out I.. I asked him if he'd... if he'd hurt himself recently and... he pushed up his sleeve showing me a.. well... glob.. it was infected.. let's leave it at that.. so I drove him here and then carried you inside and now it's.. " Lauren glanced down at her watch, "Just after nine.. so you got about eight hours in..."

     Bonnibel could only stare.


	3. Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Marceline  
> 

_"Bon.. Bonnibel?"_

_The slender, strawberry blonde girl turned to face Marceline, and broke into that iconic smile of her's that always makes her blush. Which she did._

_"Hey Marcy."_

_Oh lord. That voice. She shoved her hands in her jean pockets and stared down at her shoes, the blush spreading to her ears as well._

_"H.. hi..." Marceline whispered._

_Suddenly she ran towards her throwing her arms around her waist and buried her face in Marceline's shoulder, clearly crying heavily. She awkwardly reached around her and patted her back lightly not understanding what was happening, or what she should be doing to fix it._

_"Bon, hey, it's okay. What's wrong?" Her voice was surprisingly soft, more gentle than she'd ever heard it._

_She thought she was trying to say something, but her voice was so muffled and broken up that she couldn't understand any of it, so she just stood with her in silence until she pulled away. She looked up at her, her eyes were red and slightly puffy. She looked so small and vulnerable._

_"I.. I'm so sorry Marceline... I'll leave you alone.. I didn't mean..." She trailed off and looked down before turning to walk away._

_She tried to tell her to stop, but her voice wouldn't work so she stretched her arm out, but she was just out of her reach. Always. Just a little too far for her to get to, but much too close for her to not notice. The perfect distance to break a heart._

 


	4. Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonnibel  
> Warning(s): Implied/Referenced Self-Harm

     "I couldn't believe it. Finn.. he promised he'd stop. He must be so scared. Serves him right, doing this to his best friends. Oh.. Jake must be so lonely... I'll pick him up and take him to my place later today. Yeah, that's a good idea. Oh! Even better! You take him! Lady could use some company with all your late night study sessions, don't cha think? Oh, I hope he's miserable. No I don't. I want to. Ugh. I don't even know what to think Ben.. "

     Bonnibel nodded slowly, mostly feeling dazed. This wasn't happening. She always had bad dreams, it was just another one. Inception? Is that what that's called? She sighed, but Lauren didn't notice, she was still talking her head off, but who could blame her, gotta cope somehow.

     "Hey, LSP, I'm gonna.. walk around a little bit." She didn't hear her, so she left.

     Bonnibel walked over to the main desk, but the woman sitting there was distracted by someone on the phone and had about ten people already waiting. She stood there uncomfortably for a few minutes before turning to the hallway. Not thinking of anything wrong with just going ahead in, she pushed open the doors and stepped inside. She was very quickly overwhelmed by the number of rooms in the hall, and the fact that this was labeled as only the first floor of thirty. She'd never find Finn at this rate.

     Suddenly she froze. What did that paper say? She spun around to look at the paper posted on one of the doors behind her.

**_ABADEER : stable vitals; still unconscious_ **

    Abadeer.. Ab- Marceline! She bolted towards the door but stopped with her hand above the handle. Bonnibel doubted she even remembered her. Besides, what if there's a doctor in there. Despite her efforts, she gave in and peered through the small window on the door. There she was. She looked so peaceful. So much happier than usual. So vulnerable. So.. beautiful? What? That... what? Whatever, the room was empty aside from her. She decided there'd be no harm in stepping in for a minute, so she opened the door and made her way to her bed. She couldn't help wishing they hadn't grown apart. She'd never stopped thinking about her. She missed her so much. They'd been so close.

     She sighed and pulled up a chair to sit beside her. She surprised herself with how desperately she wanted her to wake up because of her presence. She knew she wouldn't though. After all, life wasn't a fairy tale. Still.. something deep inside of her was hopeful. She wondered where her parents were. Their daughter was in the hospital, there were no doctors, and yet her parents were nowhere to be found. They hadn't even been in the lobby. In fact, it didn't look like anyone had been here at all. It was like they brought her here and then left the staff take it from there. There were no notes, no flowers, no pictures, no balloons, no nothing. Not even her MP3 player seemed to be there. How long had she been here? She was at school yesterday, wasn't she? She must've been so miserable. She's never been good at getting along without music. Bonnibel pulled her phone out of her pocket to check the time, then remembered she had her charger in her bag. She quickly pulled it out and plugged her phone into the wall, setting it on the table beside her bed. She opened her music app and hit play.

     She could've sworn she saw her smile, but she rarely did that days, so she doubted she would in that state. Bonnibel tapped her foot along with the music for an hour or so before standing up. She figured Lauren would be getting worried, and reached for her phone but stopped. Marceline would appreciate a little music in the background. She pulled a pen out of her bag and scribbled "B.B."  on the notepad by her bed.


	5. Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marceline  
> 

_"We could like highway robbers, thick as thieves._  
_Let the lawman throw us in a jail cell for weeks._  
_But the boys in blue couldn’t break up me and you._  
_Your daddy used to work for the FBI,_  
_Put my face on a wanted poster “dead or alive”._  
_So we ditched our cars and put on our running shoes._  
  
_No they don’t, no they don’t_  
_Want us to be together._  
_No they don’t know they don’t_  
_Not at all._  
_We could live, we could live, we could live like this forever_  
_You and I, you and I, on and on._  
_Always and forever, forever, forever_  
_Always and forever, for-"_

_"Marceline."_

_Marceline rolled over in her bed and reached for her MP3 player. She tried to turn it off, but the music kept playing._

_" **Marceline.** "_

_"Because I hear the sirens are calling_  
_Pistols drawing on the ground._  
_There maybe a mountain in between us,_  
_There ain’t nobody gonna take us down._  
  
_No they don’t, no they don’t_  
_Want us to be together_  
_No they don’t know they don’t_  
_Not at all_  
_We could live, we could live, we could live like this forever_  
_You and I, you and I, on and on,_  
_Always and forever, forever, forever_  
_Always and forever, forever, forever._  
  
_No they don’t, no they don’t_  
_Want us to be together_  
_No they don’t know they don’t_  
_Not at all_  
_We could live, we could live, we could live like this forever_  
_You and I, you and I, on and on,_  
_Always and forever, forever, forever_  
_Always and forever, forever, forever....."_

_The music slowly faded and switched to the next song while Marceline sat up. She had no idea who was saying her name, and didn't really have the desire to find out. She picked up her phone and notice she had six missed calls from an unknown number. She slid her phone into her pocket deciding to deal with it later. Marceline stood up and stretched, popping her back and looking over towards her guitar leaning against the wall. She thought about playing it to piss her dad off today, but thought it wouldn't be to smart if she wanted to do anything fun ever again. Not to mention he'd try to beat the shit out of her with it. Two birds with one stone._

_She picked Hambo up off the floor and set him on her pillow._

_"Silly bear. Always falling over. I'm gonna need to glue your ass to the mattress if this keeps happening." She said with a faint smile._

_Marceline sighed and stood up, finally giving in to the responsibility of facing the day._

_"Marceline. You're.. I'm scared."  
_

_She suddenly went stiff. She knew that voice. Her mother. Why was her mother calling to her? Did something happen?_

_"Marceline please.. wake up.." She sounded like she was crying._

_Marceline was officially baffled. She walked to her door and peered out into the hall. No one was there. Slowly she crept out of her room and-_

_The music stopped._


	6. Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonnibel  
> 

     Lauren stood up the second she saw Bonnibel walk through the door, very clearly angry. Bonnibel sighed and made her way towards her slowly.

     "Where did you go?? Why didn't you say anything??? You could've been dead!! Do you think- mff" She covered Lauren's mouth and walked her outside.

     "You didn't have to make a scene." She hesitantly lowered her hand.

     "Didn't have to make a scene?? Excuse you, but you're the one who went missing!! You're so horrible! Honestly, why do I even hang out with you people?? It just results in stuff like this..."

     Bonnibel looked down and shuffled her feet, "I did say something.." Her voice was incredibly quiet.

     "I.. I'm sorry... I'm just.. stressed, you know..?"

     Bonnibel turned and began to walk away. She hoped Lauren would try to stop her, but she didn't. After hearing her go back into the hospital Bonnibel collapsed to her knees, much too exhausted to continue moving. She buried her face in her hands and suppressed crying. She didn't understand why this was happening. Why now. Why was all of it happening now.. 

     After spending several minutes kneeling in the hospital's parking lot, Bonnibel managed to compose herself enough to stand and look (mostly) like she hadn't just been having a complete breakdown. She glanced around, quickly realizing that she had no way to get herself home, or even to school to finish up what few hours were left in the day. She found herself wandering aimlessly around the lot until she finally decided she should go inside and ask Lauren for a ride, or maybe to call her... no, just a ride. She just hoped she wouldn't make a huge deal out of it.

     Slowly, Bonnibel made her way back into the waiting room to look for her friend. It didn't take long to spot her as she was sprawled out across several chairs she appeared to have arranged into some sort of a slightly more comfortable position. She sighed and walked up to her.

     "L.. Lauren..?"

     The girl glanced up from where she was laying, a look of contempt on her face.

     "I.. need a ride home...."

     Lauren scoffed, "Walk."

     "But.. you can't just-"

     "I. Said. Walk."

     Bonnibel turned away and went towards the doors she'd entered earlier when she wanted to find Finn. She didn't really have a plan, she was just following her feet at this point.

     She froze in front of Marceline's door, her body instantly went rigid.

     There was another person in the room.


	7. Seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonnibel

     "Who are you?" Her voice was sharp and far too familiar.

     "B-Bonnibel, Bonnibel Ben-Bennett." She stuttered, feeling completely terrified by the older woman.

     Suddenly her features softened as she brushed a strand of dark black hair behind her ear, "Oh! Bonnibel, I should've known! How are you, honey?"

     Bonnibel tried not to let her shock show, as far as she knew this woman was a complete stranger, "Uh, I'm doing okay. I'm sorry to intrude, I came in for my phone, I need to call a friend, so I actually have to go."

     "Why yes, of course!" She grabbed Bonnibel's phone off of the table and held it out to her, "Please do come back, I'm sure Marcy will be thrilled to hear you came."

     Bonnibel took the phone hesitantly, "Right, yes, thank you. Um, have a nice day." She turned and walked casually out of the room before half power walking, half jogging down the hallway to leave. She slowed back down as she entered the lobby and walked towards the door while avoiding looking directly at anyone.

     She walked outside and sat down on the curb, pulling out her phone to scroll through her contacts. She hesitated when she saw Marceline's name, still saved from all those years ago. Just in case. That's what she'd always told herself at least. She started scrolling again and stopped above Peter's name. Slowly she tapped the call button and held the phone up to her ear, half hoping he wouldn't answer.

     "Hello?"

     "Oh! Hi.. Pete, uh, funny story. I need.. uh.. I need a ride."

     "You need a what now? What did you do this time?"

     "Nothing! I swear, goodness," she laughed semi-awkwardly, "Lauren's just being pissy like usual. No biggie."

     "Uh huh. Sure. Whatever. Where are you?"

     "Well.... the hospital."

     "The what?? Why??"

     Bonnibel flinched, "It's not a big deal. Please just pick me up. I wanna go home. Plus I need you to tell me what I missed at school."

     "You know I'm not your personal butler, right? But I'll be right over. Just hang tight."

     He hung up before Bonnibel got a chance to respond. She sighed and stood up, pacing around the parking lot. The drive from town to out here always took forever.


	8. Eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Marceline

     Marceline barely opened her eyes, being extremely careful to stay still. She could vaguely make out someone walking out of wherever she was and someone else, someone taller and darker somehow, standing closer to her unfamiliar bed. However the taller woman did not appear to be leaving. In fact it looked like she was- shit! She was turning around! Marceline shut her eyes again hoping the woman hadn't noticed.

     "Marceline.. if you can here me... I just want you to know that I love you. So much."

     It was her mother. Holy fuck. It was her mother!

     Marceline bolted upright, "Mom!"

     Her mother's eyes widened, "Marcy! How.. when.. you know what, it doesn't matter. You're here. You're okay. You had me terrified!" She ran forward to wrap her arms around her, not seeming to care about the uncomfortable wiring.

     Marceline leaned her head on her mother's shoulder, feeling safer than she had in years. They stayed silent for several seconds before Marceline noticed her mother was crying, "Mom.. Mom what's wrong?"

     Her voice was quiet, "Nothing sweetie, nothing at all. Everything's okay. I'm gonna go, alright? Your dad should stop by at some point, and the doctor will be in soon. I love you. Get some rest."

     Marceline's voice had lost it's light tone and was mostly neutral now, "I love you too, Mom."

     And just like that, her mother was gone. Again.

     Marceline carefully leaned over to look at her desk where there was a small notebook and what appeared to be a phone charger. She blinked a few times and strained to see the notepad which appeared to have something written on the first page.

      _B.B._

    That's all it said. B.B., what did that even mean? And whose charger was that? She thought maybe her mother had left it and the note was just some abbreviation for a thing she might've needed to remember. That's all that really made sense after all.

     She was snapped back into reality by the sound of her door handle rattling, she shifted her gaze to the window on the door. Her father. Damn.

     He opened the door, his voice it's usual deadpan tone, "Marceline. You're up. Good. You're math teacher called. Something about your MP3 player or something. I don't want to hear about something like that again. Do you understand me? Good. You're only allowed to have these things if you can prove you're responsible enough for it. You'll be ready for school Monday, correct? Fantastic. Now, I have work to attend to. I'm sure you understand. Goodbye."

     And he was gone, just as quickly as he had come. Yet he had still managed to make Marceline feel like shit. That is what he's good for after all.

    Marceline closed her eyes, feeling thoroughly tired out. Maybe the doctors would just leave her alone if she slept. At least, that's what she hoped.


	9. Nine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonnibel

     Bonnibel was relieved when Peter's black minivan finally pulled up to the hospital pickup lane. She climbed into the passenger side and sent him a grateful smile.

     "When are you going to tell me what happened last week?" He asked with no hesitation.

     "W.. what? I don't know what you mean."

     "Yes you do."

     "I don't."

     "You've been acting strange since your parents came home last Wednesday, and you've needed rides more than ever."

     "No I haven't. You're crazy."

     "You have to tell me eventually Ben."

     "There's nothing to tell. Now, are you going to pull out or leave those poor people stuck behind us?"

     Peter glanced at his rear-view mirror and sighed before pulling out into the parking lot and turning towards the exit. Bonnibel took the opportunity to turn on the radio in the hopes Peter wouldn't try to talk over it. She turned to look out the window and tapped her foot along to the music as Peter turned drove onto the freeway, occasionally looking over at her.

     "Ben... you need to-"

     "Shush. Music."

     He sighed again, seeming to give up.

     They continued to ride without speaking, Bonnibel could almost feel Peter's concern radiating off of him. She stared down at her hands, attempting to focus on anything but him and his relentless gaze that always seemed to find its way back to her. She finally looked up at him hoping that would be enough to make him stop. It very clearly wasn't.

     "Oh my gosh, Pete, I'm fine. Okay? Totally fine."

     "You're not."

     "Pete I am," Bonnibel noticed a sharpness in her voice that hadn't been there before. Peter seemed to have noticed too because he finally focused all of his attention on the road, which Bonnibel happily realized was her neighborhood.

     Peter pulled into her driveway and Bonnibel climbed out raising her hand in a departing manner without a word.

     "Ben, you really need to-" Bonnibel shut the door before Peter had a chance to finish and walked to her door, hesitating slightly before opening it and going inside.

     She went straight to her bedroom and dropped her backpack off in the corner nearest to her door before laying down on her bed. She found her mind wandering (not a thing it did often) back to seeing Marceline in the hospital room. For all she knew she'd gotten into another fight or something. Although she thought that was unlikely given that she probably would've noticed some kind of external damage if that had been the case. She wished she could've stayed there for her to wake up, but she knew good and well that she had to get home eventually and that it could be a very long time before Marceline was awake.


	10. Ten

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Marceline  
> 

    Marceline slowly opened her eyes, blinking away the fogginess of her vision, as her shoulder was prodded with what felt like a pencil eraser. She turned her head and saw a short blonde nurse standing beside her with a wide smile plastered across her face. She appeared to be the perpetrator of the disruption of Marceline's sleep, so she decided she didn't like her. Marceline held eye contact with the oddly chipper nurse for several seconds before speaking.

     "Can I help you?" Her voice had just the right amount of impatience and contempt in her opinion, but the nurse appeared taken aback. However she seemed to compose herself rather quickly, which Marceline had to give her a little credit for. Usually when Marceline intimidated people, intentionally or not, they honestly didn't seem to ever really recover from it. Hell, the people she didn't bother intimidating were terrified by the simple thought of it.

     "Someone's feeling better, huh?" The question was very clearly asked in a rhetorical tone, so naturally Marceline had to answer.

     "Well, you know, honestly I have no idea what you mean. I was just woken up with your damn pencil. I think I'd feel a hell of a lot better if I could, maybe, go back to sleep." Marceline was intent on intimidating this woman. If it was the last thing she did, and again, the nurse did appear a little surprised. She probably didn't have many sarcastic patients. Not that Marceline thought that was the most common thing. Normal people would be grateful she supposed.

 

     "Alright. I get it. Don't like authority. I'll keep that in mind." Her response was rather nonchalant, not sarcastic like Marceline had expected.

     "Don't you psychoanalyze me. You're not my fucking therapist." The nurse pulled a chair to the side of Marceline's bed and sat down beside her, instantly making Marceline extremely nervous.

     "Actually, your father has asked my to interview you about being your therapist, but you don't have to think of it that way. I can just be like a journal. Better really, because you don't have to write anything. Just talk. I do all the writing. And you can have a copy if you'd like. I could even make a shared file with all of your documents on it for you. It's really just a win, win, win for you. Nothing to lose here." Marceline just stared blankly at her. Her father had gotten her a therapist? What? Why? He hadn't even talked to her about it first.

     "Um.. how about no? I don't need you. In fact, you should go. Now." The nurse shrugged and stood, picking her clipboard up from where she'd set it before on the table.

     "I'm sure I'll see you again Marceline. It was extremely nice to be able to meet you. I think this could end up working out very well for you. Have a wonderful day, alright?" Her voice was still just as calm as it had been through their whole encounter. Marceline thought this was strange and made her feel rather uneasy.

     "Right... " Marceline said slowly, "We'll see, I guess." The nurse simply smiled again and turned to walk out. When she reached the door, she turned back around.

     "Just so you know, it's Dr. Cresspin." She reached out and quietly opened the door before stepping into out of the room and disappearing down the hall.

     Marceline stared blankly at the now closed door, not quite understanding what had happened. Her father got her a therapist? What did he know? How? No, he couldn't know anything. There's no way. She'd never told anyone. He's oblivious anyway. Right?

     Marceline rolled over on her side, facing towards the wall. She knew she was probably being crazy, her dad never noticed anything. She knew that. Slowly she began to fall asleep again, and allowed herself to relax just enough to stop being conscious enough to really think.


	11. Eleven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonnibel  
> HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

      Bonnibel flopped down onto her bed and stared at the crack that ran along her ceiling. It had been there since she was little, her mother had always told her it was put there by the angels so that they could provide her with peaceful dreams while she slept, but Bonnibel was pretty sure it was from her dad dropping something heavy in the attic. She sighed, wishing they were both with her now, maybe Peter had been right about her needing to talk, but she certainly wasn't going to tell him about it. It wasn't his business. It wasn't anybody's business except her own now. Bonnibel sat up and stretched her arms above her head, she'd have to get to work on studying soon. She stood up and paced around the small room before deciding to go downstairs and fix something to eat.

     As Bonnibel walked out of her room, she took her phone from the pocket on her pink capris and opened her messages. There were no new ones. There never were, she only ever really texted her parents. The last message she sent was nine days ago at 11:47 to her mother.

     **You guys have a flight delay?**

**August 10th 11:47 pm**

There was no response. It hadn't even been read. She scanned over the messages she'd sent to other people before that. Six to her dad throughout the past two weeks. Seventeen to her mother in the same time frame, including the one sent on the previous Wednesday. She sent one text to Peter in March, the only one in seven months. Four to LSP over the summer, none since school began again. Eight to Finn in the past 3 months, he'd stopped initiating any conversation a few weeks prior. One to Marceline, five years ago. Bonnibel stared at the name for several minutes, leaning against the railing on her staircase. Should she have put her phone back after calling Peter? Was Marceline awake? Would she be in school on Monday? Did it even matter? She typed out a message, her finger hovering over the send button.

      **Want to go out for subs and bowling some weekend to catch up?**

**Draft**

Bonnibel went back to the home screen of her phone, leaving the message unsent, and slid it back into her pocket. She continued down the stairs and turned left into the kitchen, which was looking extremely barren. She knew shopping would have to be done eventually, she couldn't live off of school lunches and her dad's stash of Mt. Dew and Red Bull in the garage forever. Her stomach growled, rather loudly, and she made her way into the garage. Bonnibel picked up a can of Red Bull from one of the several stacks of sodas. She popped the tab and took a sip from the can before stepping back into the kitchen. She opened the door to the fridge, but all that it held was a week and a half old carton of milk, two questionable tomatoes, and an old wrapper that used to belong to a stick of butter. She stood there, hunched over to see in better, for nearly a minute trying to decide if she could make anything with the tomatoes and whether she had the energy to throw out the milk and butter wrapper. The answer to both questions ended up being no. Bonnibel straightened back up, taking another drink from her Red Bull, and closed the fridge. She began looking through the cupboards above the counter, but all she found was an unopened cheap salt and pepper set and a handful of instant ramen flavor packets, her grandmother always said that the seasoning was too strong and the noodles should just be left alone. She glanced over at the clock above the stove, 7:32, and decided that she should walk to the library and a book to keep her occupied for the weekend after letting Lady in from the backyard, she had been out all day yesterday, then all night, and all day today, she'd be miserable.

     Bonnibel pushed the door open and walked into the wide open space that preceded the aisles of books. The woman at the front desk looked up from her computer and smiled at Bonnibel. They had grown to have a sort of mutual understanding of each other's desire for time alone and rarely spoke for more than a few moments, the woman seemed to work every shift from 7 pm to 5 am except for Tuesdays. Bonnibel did not know the older woman who worked on Tuesdays and usually just went straight home that afternoon. She moved towards the first row of books she saw and went to the final book on that aisle. She pulled the book off the shelf and flipped to a random page and began reading from the top.

     "I open my eyes. I’m breathing heavy. My forehead is beaded with sweat. My hands are wrapped tight around the edges of the cup holders. I look around quickly. Mara touches my arm and whispers, 'What are you doing? Are you okay?'

     Mara touches my arm and whispers, 'What are you doing? Are you okay?'

     I’m okay. I’m safe. It was a dream. Only a dream. And now I’m awake."

     She closed the book and looked at the cover, "The Way I Used To Be -- Amber Smith". She sat down at the table she was at the night before, where she always sat, and laid the book out on the table, flipping to page one. It was a decently long book that should have only taken her the weekend to read.


	12. Twelve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Marceline

     Marceline picked up the notepad from the table beside her.

      _B.B._

Was that really how her mom's handwriting looked? She didn't remember it that way, and the writing looked more familiar than one she hadn't seen in years, but no one else had been in her room aside from her father and a few nurses, right? The letters were far too rounded to be her father's and no nurse would have needed to leave a note on a notepad when they all seem to carry clipboards around with them all damn day so that they're ready to poke and prod at your body and mind at any given moment. What would "B.B." even mean? Bitchy brat? Now that would be something her father wrote. Brilliant beauty? Marceline faked a gag, that was definitely the kind of sappy bullshit her mother would've written. Maybe it was broken/boring? A nurse could write that, just your typical teenage case of overreactive hormones and drama, right?

     She put the notebook back down and looked down at the little tube they'd put in her arm and all the wires connected to things on her chest. She thought everyone was being overdramatic, it was just a bit of an extreme headrush. There had been no reason for anyone to fly her mom in or even take her to the hospital in the first place. She wished her father had just left her on the staircase and saved everyone the effort. She sat up and looked around her room, it was completely empty outside of the small notebook on the table, the two uncomfortable looking chairs by the wall farthest from her, and the mystery phone charger.

     Sliding back down to lie on her back again, Marceline decided she wanted to sleep again. It felt like it had been years since she'd even had a tiny nap, she cast a glance at the window on her door that showed only an empty hallway before closing her eyes.

      _"Marcy?"_

_Marceline looked up from her notebook where she had been sketching herself and Bonnibel when they were younger._

_"Bon...?"_

_"No silly, it's your father."_

_The person standing in front of Marceline was most definitely not her father._

_"Um.. haha, nice joke. I guess. What are you doing here?"_

_"What are you drawing?"_

_Marceline quickly closed her notebook and blushed, "Nothing. It's nothing."_

_"Now Marceline, don't you hide things from me. It's immature and disrespectful."_

_Suddenly Bonnibel did, in fact, shift into her father who looked pissed._

_Marceline stood up quickly, knocking over the chair she'd been sitting with, which made a loud clanking sound as it hit the hardwood flooring, "D.. Dad? How did you.. what?"_

_"I told you once Marceline, and this is the last time I will say it, don't you hide things from me. What are you not telling me? Are you running around with somebody I wouldn't approve of? Did something happen with you and that Ash fellow? You're acting extremely childish."_

_Marceline's eyes widened at the mention of Ash, her father had never known about him, how could he have found out? Her words came out nearly incoherently from the fear she felt, "I.. Ash..? Who? I don't know any.. Running around? I'm not.. There's nothing to hide from me, I mean there's nothing for me to hide.. from you that is. Or from anyone. What?"_

_Her father took a step closer, forcing Marceline to shrink away in order to avoid being breathed on, "Don't you hide things from me."_

_"I, um, I need to go and... do homework. Yeah. Sorry." Marceline slid out from underneath her father's looming frame and ran up the stairs, leaving her notebook on the table._

_She sat down on her bed and hugged Hambo as tightly as she could, attempting to keep herself from crying. She closed her eyes and pulled her legs close to her body in an attempt to become as small as possible, the results were rather disappointing as she was nearly six foot five and couldn't exactly take up a small amount of room. Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder and every muscle in her body tensed._

_"Hey, what's wrong?" Bonnibel's voice was much softer than it had been before when she claimed to be her father._

_Slowly, Marceline lifted her head and opened her eyes to see Bonnibel standing in front of her with a face that showed only care and concern._

_"Bonnie..? Is that you...?"_

_Bonnibel smiled down at her and nodded, "Yes doofus, it's me. Who else would I be? We live alone, remember?"_

_Marceline tilted her head to the side and raised an eyebrow at Bonnibel, "We do?"_

_She laughed and Marceline felt like her insides had turned into some kind of goo._

_"Marcy of course we do! Are you feeling alright?" She placed a cold hand on Marceline's forehead and frowned._

_"What is it? What's wrong?"_

_"You're burning up Marceline. I'm going to go get you a glass of water, okay?"_

_Marceline tried to say no, but her voice failed her. Bonnibel turned to leave, so Marceline reached out, but as soon as she touched her, the world faded to black. Everything was gone and it was just her alone in the darkness._


	13. Thirteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonnibel

     The wall clock read 2:06 as Bonnibel was leaving the library. She had had a brief conversation with the woman at the front desk while checking out her new book, which she had already read at least a third of. She was walking down the street on her way home when she realized that if she didn't turn onto her neighborhood then she could continue to walk to the highway and make her way to the hospital, she could probably get there before 3 am and it wasn't like there was anything waiting for her at her house aside from a sleeping dachshund. She pulled her phone back out of her pocket and went to her text messages with Peter.

      **Hey Pete, pick me up at the hospital in a couple hours?**

**August 20th 2:13 am**

She slid her phone back into her pocket and continued to walk. She figured Peter would be asleep and see the text in the morning and was pretty sure he'd come and pick her up after she'd been there long enough to think about what she wanted to do next. After nearly half an hour of walking, Bonnibel's phone suddenly chimed in her pocket, it felt as though she hadn't heard that noise in years and it took her a moment to identify it and think to take her phone out.

      **ben? what r u doing awake? its almost 3am. y on earth r u going 2 the hosp? are u ok? shud i come now? u nvr told me y u were there b4 is sumthing happening??**

**August 20th 2:38 am**

Bonnibel groaned, he was so over dramatic sometimes, and how could he accuse her of being up late when he was up at the same time?

      **Your grammar is atrocious Peter.**

**August 20th 2:39 am**

**that ansers nun of my questions**

**August 20th 2:39 am**

**I got bored. I'm going to hang out at the hospital.**

**August 20th 2:39 am**

    Bonnibel sat down on the curb and let her mind wander again. Maybe she was just being crazy, honestly, if she thought about it the whole situation seemed kind of creepy. Someone she hadn't spoken to in five years ends up in the hospital, which may or may not be a common occurrence for her these days, Bonnibel happens to turn up in the hospital on a day in which she is there for some form of a medical issue, Bonnibel has no idea her old friend is in the hospital and decides to go looking for one of her current friends who had been admitted there on the same day, on her way to find said friend Bonnibel notices Abadeer written on one of the doors which she recalls as her old friend's last name, Bonnibel enters her old friend's hospital room completely uninvited while it is empty aside from her and the old friend, after spending a decent amount of time watching her old friend do nothing but sleep Bonnibel leaves her only form of communication with the old friend and goes back to the lobby at the entrance of the hospital having never seen her current friend, Bonnibel then retrieves her phone after having an awkward encounter with a stranger in her old friend's room and calls another current friend for a ride home, finally Bonnibel spends the rest of the day thinking about her old friend and decides to see her again at 3 am when she is almost assuredly asleep. Yet she still wanted to go, because part of it still seemed right. She was drawn towards Marceline by an unknown force. Bonnibel hoped the feeling would soon pass so that she could return to her normal life if she could even consider what she would be returning to normal life anymore.

      **wat is ur obsession with the hosp??**

**August 20th 2:40 am**

**Sorry, I zoned out, there's no obsession. Calm down.**

**August 20th 2:44 am**

**u zoned out? u nvr do that?**

**August 20th 2:44 am**

**Yeah, cool, whatever. Will you pick me up in a few hours?**

**August 20th 2:45 am**

**i gess so. but im still not ur butler so cool it with the rides**

**August 20th 2:45 am**

**Thanks.**

**August 20th 2:45 am**


	14. Fourteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Marceline  
> Warning(s): Homophobia

      _Marceline stood up and looked around her, there was nothing but black nothingness for what seemed like forever. Suddenly she felt something poke her shoulder, she spun around to see Dr. Cresspin standing just inches away from her face sporting an impish smile. The doctor leaned in so close that her nose touched Marceline's. She wasn't sure Dr. Cresspin had been nearly that tall._

_"Marceline, your father needs you to come to my office so that we may speak about your more recent acts of rebellion with this Bonnibel girl he has told me about."_

_Marceline stared at Dr. Cresspin, trying to read her facial expression however it remained completely neutral._

_"Marceline, come with me to my office now."_

_Dr. Cresspin took a step back and turned away from Marceline, walking farther into the darkness. Without hesitation, and much to Marceline's surprise, Marceline began to follow her. Curiosity was gnawing at every one of her nerves which dulled the fear she felt about her father. She followed the doctor for what seemed like hours before they stopped at a door that was standing alone in the middle of the abyss surrounding them. Dr. Cresspin opened the door and gestured for Marceline to go inside. Marceline walked through the doorway into a room that was nonexistent just moments before and sat down on the couch against the wall opposite the large desk. Dr. Cresspin followed behind her and sat at the desk._

_"Now, Marceline, who is Bonnibel?"_

_Marceline's throat contracted and she shifted her gaze to her hands in her lap._

_"You can trust me Marceline."_

_Marceline fidgeted in her seat._

_Dr. Cresspin's voice became angry,"Who is Bonnibel, Marceline?"_

_"I don't... I don't know a Bonnibel."_

_"Your father has seen the two of you together doing immature and distasteful things."_

_"I don't know a Bonnibel."_

_"Marceline you must cooperate with me. I am not here to hurt you, I want to help you. What you are doing is unnatural."_

_"I don't know a Bonnibel."_

_Dr. Cresspin sighed and stood up behind the large desk, "Marceline, your father only wants the best for you. I need you to cooperate so that we can fix you."_

_Marceline looked away from the doctor, there was nothing wrong with her. She was sure of it._

_"Marceline, get out of my office. We're done here."_

_Marceline rose and stepped outside of the room and back into the eternal darkness. She turned around to close the door only to see that it had vanished and standing there now was her mother. Marceline looked at her, at all the similarities between them, their dark brown eyes, their thick black hair, their long slender fingers, their slightly pointed ears that both of them had been teased for growing up. Marceline remembered Bonnibel's fascination with her ears vividly, she remembered the way her friend would run her fingertip along the edge of them and she would say they made her look like some kind of creature of the night (when they were in the fourth grade Bonnibel decided that Marceline's pale skin and unusually sharp canines meant that she was a vampire). Marceline wished Bonnibel would do that today, they could lie in bed together with Bonnibel running her fingers over Marceline's ears and Marceline singing quietly to help Bonnibel rest. Marceline's phone buzzed in her pocket._

_**(Unknown #)**_

_**I called you six times Marcy, where are you? We were supposed to meet for lunch.** _

_**August 28th 10:31 pm** _

_Marceline couldn't remember anything about lunch with anyone. In fact, she couldn't think of anyone aside from her mom and Bonnibel, when they were younger, who had ever called her "Marcy"._

_Marceline's mother suddenly spoke, "Who are you texting Marceline?"_

_"No one, I'm not texting anyone. It was a wrong number."_

_"Hudson tells me that you're seeing someone bad?"_

_"Hud- oh. Father, right. I'm not seeing anyone."_

_"Are you sure? He seemed very concerned."_

_"I'm fine Mom."_

_"Well okay, I just want to make sure you're alright. When are you going to come and visit your brother and I?"_

_"I'm sure we'll fly up for Christmas." Marceline knew they weren't visiting on Christmas. She knew they weren't visiting at all. Her father wanted nothing to do with them and would make sure that she had nothing to do with them either. It's a wonder he got in touch with her mom for a simple hospital trip._

_Suddenly Marceline realized the date that her phone had said. It'd been more than a week. Why had it been more than a week?_


	15. Fifteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonnibel

      **Want to go out for subs and bowling some weekend to catch up?**

**August 20th 3:06 am**

Bonnibel stuffed her phone back into her pocket and pushed open the door to the hospital lobby. Did she make the right decision? Would Marceline even know it was her? The lobby was just as busy as it usually was, emergencies didn't wait for convenient times. The woman at the front desk didn't seem to notice Bonnibel walk in, so she made her way towards the hall she'd been in twice the day before. She watched the floor as she walked in the hopes that she wouldn't attract any extra attention to herself. She stood just inside the hallway, looking at the countless rooms lining the walls. Finn was still in there somewhere, she thought that maybe she should go to see him. Bonnibel peered into the room she remembered Marceline was in, it was completely empty outside of Marceline in her bed like it had been when she first found the room. Carefully and slowly, Bonnibel turned the handle of the door to Marceline's room and stepped inside. She silently shut the door behind her and moved to grab the chair, which had been moved back to the wall, to set it beside Marceline's bed.

     Bonnibel sat quietly for a few minutes before standing again and beginning to pace around the room. She didn't have any reason to be there. She didn't even know why she'd noticed the room in the first place. It should have blended into the background with every other door in the hall. Bonnibel took her phone back out and turned off its ringer before setting it on the table beside Marceline's bed. She didn't want to go, despite there not being any reason to stay.

     Bonnibel moved the chair closer to the bed and sat back down. She opened her book to the first page with the intent of reading to Marceline. She sighed and closed her book again, it wasn't the kind of story to read  _to_ anyone. Bonnibel's phone vibrated against the table and the screen lit up.

      **i will let Marce know this afternoon**

**August 20th 3:24 am**

**This number is saved?**

**August 20th 3:24 am**

**of course it is honey. Why wouln't it be?**

**August 20th 3:25 am**

**Ms. Abadeer?**

**August 20th 3:25 am**

**yes honey. I'm so glad yo texted Marcy. It was wondeful to see you yesterday**

**August 20th 3:27 am**

Bonnibel stared at the message she'd just received. She hadn't seen anyone yesterday, had she? There was Lauren and Peter, but that was it wasn't it?

      **It was nice to see you too.**

**August 20th 3:28 am**

**i didn't get the chance to tell Marcy you'd ben there. But I'll make sure to mention it when i let her know you texed her**

**August 20th 3:28 am**

Bonnibel nearly fell out of her chair, the woman in Marceline's room had been her mom.

      **I'll let you get some sleep. Good night ma'am.**

**August 20th 3:28 am**

**goonight honey. Hope to see you soon**

**August 20th 3:29 am**

Bonnibel set her phone back down on the table. She looked over at Marceline and smiled, she looked so much more peaceful than Bonnibel had ever been able to make her. Bonnibel stood up and moved to the side of Marceline's bed. Without thinking, she slid underneath the sheets to lay beside Marceline on the narrow bed. She could feel her exposed calves brush up against Marceline's jeans. She carefully laid her head on Marceline's shoulder and closed her eyes, allowing herself to drift into a light sleep.


	16. Sixteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Marceline

     Marceline sat up in her bed carefully and looked over at her mom, who was sitting in the chair against the far wall.

     Her mom's voice conveyed worry, "Bonnibel came by again while you were sleeping."

     "Again?"

     "Yes Marcy, again. I've told you this before. She texted you last Sunday about going out to lunch. I've been telling you every day since then, she's been dropping by a lot. Does your father know? I haven't mentioned it to him yet."

     "Why would Bonnie text me?"

     "She said she wanted to catch up Marceline."

     "Why?"

     "I'm not sure, she showed up on Saturday to see you and then sent you a text on Sunday. She's been by 3 more times since Saturday, I helped her arrange it so that we could both be here at the same time in case there was something you didn't want your father to know about her."

     "Why was she here Saturday?"

     "I don't know Marcy. Maybe she was looking for someone and stumbled across you. I don't know how she would've gotten in if she hadn't been accompanied by a doctor, though."

     "Why did you leave a note on this notepad?" Marceline gestured towards the small notepad on the bedside table."

     Her mom sighed, "I didn't leave any notes Marce. We've been over this. I have to go now, your brother and Fionna will be here in just a moment."

     Marceline's mom walked to the doorway, stepping to the side to allow her brother and his fiancé to come inside, before leaving.

     Fionna smiled broadly and made her way to the side of Marceline's bed, "Hello! How are you feeling love? Do you need anything?"

     Marshall rolled his eyes, "She'll be fine Fionna. Don't worry," He shifted his attention to Marceline, "You are going to be fine, right?"

     "Of course I'll be fine Marshall. Damn, you're supposed to be the laid back guy who never worries, at least try to act the part."

     Her brother laughed, "Well she's still as snarky as ever, so I guess she really is okay."

     Fionna gently swatted her partner's arm, glaring at him playfully.

     Marceline groaned, "Get a room!"

     The couple just smiled in response.

     "Whatever, Marshall when are you breaking me out of this joint?"

     Marshall smirked at his little sister, "Wouldn't you like to know."

     "Marshall I can and will beat your ass."

     His smile widened, "Woah, woah, calm down there sis. You'll be happy to hear that you're going home today. Mom and Dad wanted me to tell you, something about not connecting enough when we were little or whatever."

     Marceline laughed, she could act almost like herself around Marshall, "They just never realized my beating you up was how we chose to connect."

     "Maybe that was how you chose to connect, I'm pretty sure I had no say in the matter."

     "Eh, details. What are we waiting for? It's time to get out of here!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As this probably isn't as clear as I meant for it to be, Marceline's mother told her about Bonnibel 6 different times and that was why there were six calls from an unknown number, part of her knew that someone had tried to get in touch with her 6 times, but she didn't know who. Sorry x/


	17. Seventeen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonnibel

     Bonnibel slowly opened her eyes and yawned, she quickly realized where she was and froze mid-stretch just inches away from Marceline's IV drip. Her eyes traveled to Marceline, who was sleeping soundly beside her. She carefully slid out of the bed and silently cursed herself for being stupid enough to fall asleep, she just hoped that no one had walked in while she was sleeping. She picked up her phone and frowned, Peter had texted her.

      **how long r u planing on staying?**

**August 20th 6:03 am**

**u ok?**

**August 20th 6:21 am**

**ben where r u? if u dont text me soon im calling**

**August 20th 6:47 am**

**im starting 2 worry dude**

**August 20th 7:12 am**

**ok im driving to the hosp**

**August 20th 7:36 am**

**im n the pickup lane where r u?**

**August 20th 8:01 am**

**ben im here come outside**

**August 20th 8:07 am**

**lady @ front desk says u were nvr here??**

**August 20th 9:22 am**

**text me back ben this isnt funny**

**August 20th 9:34 am**

**ur driving me insane r u ok?**

**August 20th 9:41 am**

**im freaking out where r u?????**

**August 20th 9:56 am**

**bennett where the hell r u??**

**August 20th 10:04 am**

**b**

**August 20th 10:14 am**

**e**

**August 20th 10:14 am**

**n**

**August 20th 10:14 am**

**n**

**August 20th 10:14 am**

**e**

**August 20th 10:14 am**

**t**

**August 20th 10:14 am**

**t**

**August 20th 10:14 am**

     Bonnibel groaned, her phone read 12:51 pm, Peter was going to kill her.

      **Hey Pete, are you still here?**

**August 20th 12:53 pm**

**where hav u been????????**

**August 20th 12:53 pm**

**It's not important, are you still here or not?**

**August 20th 12:54 pm**

**yeah i was bout 2 leave 2 ask ur parents if theyd seen u**

**August 20th 12:54 pm**

Bonnibel breathed out a sigh of relief, that could've turned out horribly.

      **I'll be out in just a minute.**

**August 20th 12:54 pm**

**im waiting**

**Augst 20th 12:54 pm**

Bonnibel turned to look at Marceline, why did she come back? Why had she come into Marceline's room in the first place? Why the hell did she just sleep in the same bed as her? She shook her head and walked out of the room and into the hallway. Bonnibel carefully avoided eye contact with the doctors and nurses as she left the hospital, should she feel guilty? Nothing had happened. She noticed Peter's minivan almost instantly, he was parked right in front of the hospital. Bonnibel could see him through the window, he was staring at the steering wheel, looking exhausted. Now she knew she should feel guilty. She opened the passenger side door and got in without a word. Peter looked over at her and opened his mouth to speak but closed it again and put the car in drive.

     As Peter pulled into Bonnibel's driveway he looked at her again, "Ben, why were you at the hospital?"

     Bonnibel stared at her hand on the door handle, debating whether to leave or not.

     "Bennett..."

     "I'm fine," Bonnibel snapped as she swung open the door and jumped out of the van, slamming the door behind her.


	18. Eighteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonnibel  
> Warning(s): Death

     Bonnibel stormed up the stairs and into her room, slamming her door behind her. Who gave him the right to ask questions? She was fine. If he couldn't accept that it was his own problem. Bonnibel slammed her new book down on her desk and opened it to read. She spent hours sitting there, attempting to focus enough to be able to read, but her mind kept traveling back to Marceline. She hated this new feeling of a wandering mind, it was useless and got in the way of her getting anything done. All she could think about was going back to the hospital. And for what, to see Marceline sleep around some more? She was so lazy! All she ever did was sleep, even when they were young, and it's apparently all she does now. Bonnibel was pretty sure she'd heard Mr. Petrikov say something about a "Ms. Abadeer" sleeping through class. Bonnibel stood up, knocking over the chair she'd been sitting in, she had work to do. She couldn't keep thinking about Marceline. She needed to forget her again. Bonnibel stomped her way back down the stairs and threw open the back door, allowing Lady to go outside, and sat down on the staircase, leaving the door wide open. She buried her face in her hands, how had this happened? She was fine just a couple of weeks ago. She just wanted her parents to come home. Bonnibel leaned her head between her knees in an attempt to steady her heavy breathing. She grabbed around blindly for her phone and pulled up Marceline's contact, she lifted her head and stared down at the name. She would've given anything in that moment to press the call button and have Marceline answer, but she also would've given anything to forget about her old friend entirely. She set her phone back down and leaned her forehead against her knees, tears rolling down her face.

     Bonnibel could hear Lady's nails on the hardwood floor of the kitchen as she scurried back inside and came directly to Bonnibel's feet, starting to lick her toes. Bonnibel let out a tearful laugh and picked up her dog, pulling her into her lap.

     "Hey Lady, how are you feeling?"

     Bonnibel scratched behind Lady's ear and pet her back, "You're a good girl, you know that?"

     Bonnibel wiped her eyes on her hands and set Lady back down on the floor before standing up and walking into the garage, she grabbed a Mt. Dew and popped it's tab, taking a swig from the can. She walked over to her backpack and took out her AP Calculus textbook and opened it up on the kitchen table, she'd finished all of her homework in the library, but a little review never hurt anyone. As Bonnibel stared at the endless math problems, occasionally taking a sip from her Mt. Dew, her mind began to wander yet again. She could barely remember why she and Marceline stopped talking, but she was pretty sure it had to do with Marceline distracting her from school. Maybe it had been Marceline's constant need to rebel against everything and get them both into trouble. Or maybe it was Marceline spending so much time with that Ash kid in the grade above them. Come to think of it, it could've been Marceline's obsession with that stupid bass she had. Bonnibel shook her head, it was her fault, she knew that. She had pushed Marceline away because she thought she too good for her anymore. She thought that she needed to focus more on her future, and look where that got her, Bonnibel spent so much time planning for everything that could occur in the next second that she forgot to pay attention to what was happening around her in the moment. Sure, she was at the top of her class and had Peter and Finn at her beck and call, but they just thought she was cute, they didn't really care, she was alone. Marceline had been there for her and Bonnibel had pushed her away.

     She closed her Calculus book and folded her arms on the table, resting her head on them. Her mind was done wandering, there was only one thought left. Why?

     Bonnibel heard her phone buzz on the table but ignored it, there was no one she wanted to talk to in that moment except for Marceline. Her phone buzzed again and she covered her ears, pressing her forehead against the table. Bonnibel's eyes were shut as tightly as possible, but tears still fell, she should never have tried to become so much like her dad.

     Bonnibel finally sat up and picked up her phone, there were two texts from Peter asking if she wanted to meet him at the library. She set her phone back down, ignoring them. Why did she want to go back to the hospital so desperately? She wondered if Peter would be willing to drive her there. Probably not. Why did her parents have to book that flight? Of every single flight in the entire world, why that one? Bonnibel stood up and shoved her textbook back into her back pack. She slid her phone into her pocket and walked back upstairs to her room. She laid down on her bed and stared up at her cracked ceiling, if there were really angels up there, like her mother had said, would they have let this happen?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I need to determine whether or not Marceline should smoke because I'm super torn between the two, comment your thoughts


	19. Nineteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonnibel

     Bonnibel groaned and pulled her blaring phone out of her pocket, turning off its alarm. She couldn't remember falling asleep at all. She rolled out of bed and changed out of her several days old clothes and into a clean, pink sundress. She stumbled down the stairs and opened the back door to let Lady out. Bonnibel picked up the half empty Mt. Dew can from the night before and poured its contents into the sink before tossing it into the nearly full trashcan beside the fridge, she knew she would have to take out all of the trash pretty soon. She looked out into the backyard to see Lady running around and digging in the garden her mother had made all those years ago, her mother had somehow always had time to tend to it, now it was almost completely destroyed. Bonnibel shut the back door and pulled on her backpack, stepping outside and starting down the street on her way to school.

     It always took Bonnibel about 45 minutes to walk to school from her house, but it had felt much faster today with her mind back at the hospital with Marceline. She shuffled into her first period class and set her books down on the empty desk in the front of the classroom where she always sat.

     Lauren slid into the desk beside her, "Hey babe."

     Bonnibel looked to her other side to see if anyone was sitting there before turning back to Lauren, "Uh, hi. How's Finn?"

     "He's doing okay, are you seriously never going to ask where we were taking you on Friday?"

     "Oh, right. Where were you taking me I guess?"

     Lauren smiled proudly, "I was helping Finn set up a date with you down by the lake."

     "Oh."

     Lauren was staring at her expectantly.

     "I, um, thanks, I guess?"

     Lauren frowned and looked down at her literature notebook on her desk, signaling that their conversation was over. Bonnibel had known Finn had a crush on her, but she thought he knew by now that she wasn't interested in him. Sure, he was a nice guy and all, but he was seriously not Bonnibel's type at all. For one thing, he was... well a nice GUY.

     Their teacher walked into the room and cleared his throat to get the class's attention, effectively crashing Bonnibel's train of thought into a brick wall. The older man began to write notes on the blackboard he'd had attached to the wall so that he wouldn't have to use the school's "smart board" or deal with students stealing his dry erase markers. Bonnibel stared at the board, attempting to follow what her teacher was saying, however, his voice slowly turned into what could almost be considered white noise as Bonnibel's mind once again began to wander.

     The bell, indicating that their current period of class was over, rang loudly throughout the school, causing Bonnibel to nearly fall out of her seat. She looked around and noticed that all of her classmates were putting away their notebooks and so she began to do the same. The blackboard in front of Bonnibel's seat was covered in slanted, messy notes, but she was confident that she knew the material they should have gone over today already.

     As Bonnibel walked to her next class she noticed a guy with a greyish silver dyed mohawk making out with some girl against the lockers, she thought he looked like a bit of a sleazebag and was pretty sure the girl was too young for him. She had to push her way through a group of upperclassmen standing outside of her AP German class in order to get into the classroom, she had tested into German 3 the year before and been allowed to move up to AP for her sophomore year. She set her backpack on a desk near the back of the room and took her seat.

     Bonnibel set her phone on her desk and began scrolling through the school's social media site, a few years ago a group of seniors in an advanced programming course got together and designed an app for their school. Students were given a day during their first week of sixth grade to set up an account. It had started off as something that was mostly used to set up tutoring sessions, but over the years had grown into a cesspool for drama and upperclassmen hookups. Bonnibel only ever used it to check their town's local news, but she received a countless number of private messages from creeps around the school. However, she did occasionally have younger students ask for tutoring help.

     Their teacher stood up from his desk, he was extremely tall (though not as tall as Marceline had become Bonnibel noted) with wavy, coarse, black hair and a perpetual five-o'clock shadow. He had come across as a very nice man over the past couple of weeks while everyone was getting accustomed to returning to school.

     "Guten Morgen Kinder! Bitte holen Sie Ihre Notizbücher aus. Heute werden Sie über die Dinge schreiben, die Sie über Ihren Sommerurlaub getan haben. Ich weiß, es ist ziemlich langweilig, aber es ist, was die Grafschaft will. Ich erwarte ein zwölf Blatt Papier bis zum Ende des nächsten Monats, so beschreibend sein!"

     A few students looked up from their desks, seeming a little bit surprised. That had been the first time their teacher had started off the day speaking in German. Everyone seemed to register what he had said fairly quickly though and began to take out thick, multi-subject notebooks from their bags. Bonnibel opened her notebook as well and stared down at the frustratingly blank pages. She clicked her pen anxiously as she watched her classmates scribbling away in their notebooks which earned her more than a few annoyed looks. She sighed and looked back down at her notebook before beginning to write.

_Mein Sommerurlaub_

_Ich habe in diesem Sommer nichts getan, sondern studiert. Ich mache nie._

_Ich denke, dass ich in meinen alten besten Freund verliebt bin, der wahrscheinlich nicht daran erinnert, dass ich existiere._

Bonnibel sighed and closed her notebook. This was going to be a long month.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If all goes well I would like to get onto a schedule of updating on Tuesdays and Fridays


	20. Twenty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonnibel

     Mr. Petrikov was writing on his white board about sign-up dates for taking AP Calculus next year. Bonnibel was copying down everything he wrote into her math notebook while the rest of her class stared at their teacher, dumbfounded. None of them seemed at all ready to think about anything beyond that day, let alone anything beyond that school year.

    They had spent the first few minutes of class trying to review what they had learned in Algebra II the year before, but then a student from the back of the class, Bonnibel thought his name was Braco, with short brown hair that had far too much gel in it, asked why they needed to know this much about math. The comment had sparked a large debate among the class with had taken up almost the entire period. Mr. Petrikov eventually got so frustrated that he threw his old crown that he had kept on his desk since the beginning of the school year which managed to get the students' attention. After several minutes of stunned silence, Mr. Petrikov went to the board and began to talk about their next year of high school, leaving his crown abandoned in the back of the room. Bonnibel wasn't entirely sure whether her classmates were more afraid of having upset their teacher or of the idea of having to move onto their junior year and think about colleges and their futures, but she assumed it was the latter seen as Mr. Petrikov seemed to be a rather passive man, although that hadn't been the first of his outbursts of the school year, and she didn't think it would be the last either.

     Bonnibel wasn't entirely sure whether her classmates were more afraid of having upset their teacher or of the idea of having to move onto their junior year and think about colleges and their futures, but she assumed it was the latter seen as Mr. Petrikov seemed to be a rather passive man, although that hadn't been the first of his outbursts of the school year, and she didn't think it would be the last either.

     The bell rang, cutting Mr. Petrikov off midsentence, and students quickly rose from their desks and shoved their ways out of the classroom. Mr. Petrikov seemed completely unphased by not being able to finish his short lesson and went to the back of the room to retrieve his crown. Bonnibel twisted around in her chair to watch him, he hadn't seemed to notice that she was still there, not that she really had a reason to still be there. As Mr. Petrikov began to turn around, Bonnibel instinctively shoved her things into her bag and stood, terrified of being caught staring.

     "Ms. Bennett, is there something you needed?" His voice sent and chill up Bonnibel's spine for some reason she couldn't identify.

     "No, no of course not. I just had to get all my stuff together."

     "Well if you don't have anything going on, I would love it if you stayed to talk about your plans for the next few years for just a moment."

     Bonnibel hesitated, but was careful to keep a smile on her face as she considered the offer, "Sure, I suppose I have time for that."

     "Wonderful! Please, sit back down, make yourself comfortable," Bonnibel noticed that the old man suddenly seemed very nervous.

     Bonnibel moved to sit down at a desk closer to where Mr. Petrikov sat.

     "Tell me Bonnibel, have you thought about the colleges you may want to attend?"

     "Of course, sir. I've pretty much had my life figured out since I was 8," Bonnibel quickly realized that what she had sound could have come across as cocky, so she added, "Although plans change I suppose, I've certainly made a lot of tweaks from my life goals as a little kid."

     Mr. Petrikov nodded, "Naturally, yes. If you don't mind my asking, where is it that you plan on attending?"

     "Konigreich."

     Mr. Petrikov raised his eyebrows, "Konigreich? Isn't that a liberal arts college or something?"

     "They're a good school and they're very close to a lot of nice museums and short-term job opportunities."

     "I suppose so... Are you sure that would be the right choice, Ms. Bennett? You could get into a very nice college with your grades and classes. I also hear that you tutor several younger students and spend some time volunteering at the library. Not to mention the countless clubs and teams you've assisted with your phenomenal problem-solving skills, I believe you should consider joining at least one as well."

     "With all due respect, sir, I've been thinking about this for 7 years, and I think I know what the right choice for myself is."

     "Well, I could always schedule a meeting with you and your parents so that everyone could talk-"

     Bonnibel stood up quickly and pulled on her backpack, "I'm okay, Mr. Petrikov. Thank you, though, really."

     Mr. Petrikov stared at Bonnibel as she left the room, clearly more nervous than he had been before. Bonnibel half-walked, half-jogged her way to the entrance of the school, she passed by the couple she'd seen earlier in the day, who were once again pressed up against the lockers, and an extremely tall man with black hair, cut into a short crew-cut, who was packing things up in the front office. Bonnibel slowed down, realizing that it was her principal, and Marceline's father. She came to a stop in front of the exit and turned to look at the man. She forgot who he was most of the time, her and Marceline would make jokes about him all the time in elementary school, but since then, the name Abadeer had lost almost all of it's meaning to her. She frowned to herself, remembering how much Marceline had fought with her father when they were young. She had never really understood the tension between them, it wasn't like he had pushed her to be perfect, like her own mother had, or like he had ever done anything to hurt her.

 


	21. Twenty-One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonnibel  
> Warning(s): Possible Eating Disorder Trigger

      **Want to give me a ride to the hospital today Pete?**

**August 21st 8:41 pm**

**wat is rong w/ u? y??**

**August 21st 8:43 pm**

**Nothing is wrong with me. Can you drop me off?**

**August 21st 8:43 pm**

**..... fine**

**August 21st 8:44 pm**

Bonnibel hesitated before sending her next text, she didn't want Peter to take it as anything other than platonic.

**Thanks, Petey, you're the best! <3**

**August 21st 8:46 pm**

**ill b** **right over**

**August 21st 8:46 pm**

Bonnibel put her phone in her small, pink handbag and cast a glance towards Lady, who was sleeping on the couch, before stepping out to her front porch. She sat down carefully on the concrete steps that lead to her porch and looked up at the dark sky above her. Since their town was so small, light pollution had never been too big of a problem, Bonnibel remembered spending almost every summer night of her earlier life staring at the star-filled sky with her dad.

     Bonnibel heard Peter's van pulling into her driveway and stood up, walking to where he had parked. She opened the side door and settled in the passenger seat. Peter smiled at her in acknowledgment before changing gears to reverse out of her driveway. They drove for several minutes in a slightly awkward silence before Peter spoke.

     "Have you been working out or something, Ben?"

     "What?"

     Peter glanced at Bonnibel out of the corner of his eye, "Well... it just looks like you've been losing some weight. I don't know, it looks good."

     Bonnibel stared at him, but his eyes were back on the road. She hadn't been working out, she ha no idea what he was talking about. She looked down at herself and pinched at the slight chubbiness of her stomach. Bonnibel supposed she had lost a fair amount of weight over the past couple of weeks, she hadn't been eating a whole lot after all. Did Peter say it looked good?

     "Um, thanks," Bonnibel muttered, realizing she hadn't said anything for far too long of a socially acceptable time.

     She noticed Peter nod and decided to not question the subject.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this is a pretty short-ass chapter, but the next one should be a decent length


	22. Twenty-Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonnibel  
> Peter  
> Marceline

     Bonnibel looked to Peter as he pulled his van into the drop-off/pick-up lane in front of the hospital.

     "Can I text you to pick me up later?"

     Peter sighed, "I guess so, but then I'm taking you somewhere we can talk."

     Bonnibel only hummed in response before reaching for the door handle.

     "Hang on," Peter said, suddenly.

     Bonnibel's hand rested on cold metal, "Yeah?"

     "Don't stay too late, we have school tomorrow, okay? And stay safe," He sounded like he cared much more than Bonnibel wanted him to.

     Bonnibel nodded before hopping out of the minivan and half-jogging into the hospital. She fished around in her handbag before pulling out a fake hospital card she had spent all afternoon working on. She held it up to the old man sitting at the front desk as she walked into the hallway she knew Marceline's room was on. She stopped in front of Marceline's door and put her card back into her handbag. She stood outside for several seconds while she attempted to collect herself enough to walk in. She took her hair down from the high ponytail it had been in since gym class and ran her fingers through it, trying to straighten it out some before sighing and opening the door.

     Bonnibel's eyes instantly went to Marceline's bed where she usually would have been sleeping, however, now Marceline was sitting up in her bed looking at a small sheet of paper in her hands. Bonnibel stared at Marceline, who hadn't yet noticed there was anyone else in the room. She had a mental debate with herself over whether she should leave before Marceline noticed or not and hadn't decided before Marceline looked up, the two girls locked eyes and Bonnibel could feel her face heating up, maybe Marceline didn't remember her and she could just pretend to be a doctor or something.

     Marceline's voice was scratchy, as though she hadn't had anything to drink in days, which Bonnibel decided was a possibility, "Bon.. Bonnie...?"

     Bonnibel frowned, "No one calls me that now."

     Marceline seemed to flinch away from Bonnibel when she spoke, though her voice hadn't been aggressive.

     "Hey, it's alright, I just haven't heard it in a while I guess."

     "Why are you here Bon..?"

     "I could ask you the same thing Marceline."

     Marceline nodded and looked back down at the paper in her hands. Bonnibel hesitated before walking to the side of Marceline's bed and sitting in the chair that was still in the same place she had moved it to during her last visit.

     "Bonnie.... why are you here?"

    "Do you want me to go?"

     "I want you to answer my damn question!" Marceline snapped, raising her voice much higher than anyone had at Bonnibel before.

     Bonnibel stood up quickly and stumbled backward, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry Marceline, I don't know. I just am. I'm sorry."

     Marceline sighed, "Yeah, okay, whatever. What do you want?"

     Bonnibel's voice was quiet, "Nothing."

     Marceline rolled her eyes but didn't say anything else.

     Bonnibel stood for a few seconds, looking at Marceline before slowly moving to sit back down. She picked at the pink nail polish on her fingernails as she waited for Marceline to speak again, but she was beginning to think she wasn't going to.

     "Marceline... why did we stop talking?"

     The taller girl looked up from her paper, her voice was cold, "You know, I forget what landed me on your blacklist, Princess. I don't think you should be the one asking that question when you're the one who stopped. 'We' didn't stop talking, you stopped talking."

     "I didn't want to stop talking Marceline. It wasn't my fault."

     "Right, sorry, I forget that I supposed to be perfect sometimes."

     Bonnibel stood up again, letting her handbag fall to the ground, "I never said you had to be perfect!"

     Marceline turned away from her, her voice sounded broken, "Then why did you leave?"

     Bonnibel froze. She stared at the back of Marceline's head silently. 

     After several seconds Marceline turned her head slightly to look at Bonnibel, "Are you okay...?"

     "I'm fine."

     Marceline hesitated, "Are you really?"

     "Yes. I'm fine."

     "Bonnie..."

     "I said I was fine. I need to go," Bonnibel grabbed her handbag and rushed out of Marceline's room.

     Bonnibel took her phone out and typed a quick message to Peter, asking to be picked up, and sped-walked to the lobby where she found a seat near the door. Had that really just happened? Was Marceline really awake in there? Had she really just screwed that up that badly? Bonnibel's phone buzzed in her hand and she turned it over quickly.

      **im @ SB dwn road meet me @ table by door**

**August 21st 10:51 pm**

Bonnibel sighed and stepped outside into the cold air and instantly regretted not wearing something warmer, it wasn't too far to the Starbucks, but it would feel like ages in weather like this.

      **I'm on my way, see you in a few minutes.**

**August 21st 10:53 pm**

     Bonnibel put her phone back into her handbag and crossed the hospital parking lot onto the sidewalk by the road.

* * *

     Peter stood up as he saw Bonnibel's pink dress appear in the Starbucks's parking lot. He straightened out his white button up shirt and brushed off his bright red jeans as Bonnibel pushed open the front door. Damn it, why was she so pretty? Should he have just asked her here as a date? Would she have said yes? Peter cleared his throat and waved to get Bonnibel's attention.

     "Hey, Ben! You finished up sooner than I thought you would," He laughed, "I got you a drink. Cinnamon chai tea."

     Bonnibel smiled at him and he was pretty sure something in his chest exploded, "Thanks, Peter, it's freezing out."

     Peter pulled out the chair that was across from where he had been sitting before moving to sit in his own seat, "So, what have you been up to?"

     "Not a whole lot," Peter thought that Bonnibel looked frustrated.

     "What's got you so down in the dumps lately? You haven't really been yourself."

     "Nothing, just tired from school I guess," She took a sip of her tea and Peter couldn't help but notice the imprint of her light pink lipstick on the mug. If she was just going to the hospital had there been a need for any makeup?

     "Alright, well I'm here for you. You know that, right?"

     "Mm-hm."

     Peter nodded, unsure of what to say to such vague responses.

     "Are we done now, Pete? Can we go back home?"

     Peter frowned, he didn't want the night to end this quickly, "No, let's stay for a bit. I'm having fun, I wanna chat."

     Bonnibel sighed and stared into her drink, "Okay, I guess. Are you continuing French this year?"

     Peter smirked, feeling much better now that Bonnibel had initiated a topic, "Oui."

     Bonnibel smiled at him and Peter felt his insides melt, "You're a dork."

     "Am not."

     "Are too."

     He laughed, "Yeah, okay, I am."

     Bonnibel sighed, "We need to go, Peter, we have school in the morning."

     Peter pulled his phone out of his pocket to check the time, it was nearly 11:30, "I guess you're right."

     "I'm always right."

     Peter rolled his eyes and took out his car keys, "Yeah, okay, let's get going."

     

* * *

     Marceline stared at the closed door of her hospital room, why had Bonnibel been there? Was that some kind of sick prank orchestrated by Lauren? It probably was. Damn it, why had she let Bonnibel trick her like that? Marceline looked down at the paper in her hand where "B.B." had been written days ago and sighed, that was Bonnibel's handwriting and she knew it. No one else in the whole town wrote letters that were that soft and loopy and light and perfect and fucking annoying. Stupid, perfect Bonnibel Bennett was the only person capable of being that obnoxiously oblivious to everything around her to have that amount of joy in her writing. 

 


	23. Twenty-Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Marceline

     Over the next several days, Bonnibel visited Marceline at the hospital eight different times, three of which had been with Marceline's mom. Marceline wasn't conscious for any of Bonnibel's visits after Monday night.

* * *

     Marceline slid into the backseat of her mom's rental SUV next to Marshall, Fionna sat in the passenger seat while her mom was in the driver's seat. Her mom had decided that they should all go out and have lunch together, but her father opted out and went home alone. Marceline looked down at her phone, she had been debating whether or not she should text Bonnibel back for the past two hours while she was being checked out of the hospital.

     She looked up at her brother who was about an inch shorter than her father, "Hey, Marshall, do you remember Bonnie?"

     "That kid who you always hung out with when we were little?"

     Marceline laughed, "Yeah, that's her."

     "Okay, then I guess I remember her. Why?"

     "She texted me."

     "Okay?"

     "We haven't talked in like five years."

     "What do you want me to do about it?"

     Marceline rolled her eyes, "Should I text her back?"

     "Do you  **want** to text her back?"

     "What? I don't know."

     "For goodness sakes, Marce, how can you not know?"

     "What does it matter if I want to or not? I need to know if I should."

     "I don't care, dude, ask Fionna. I don't get girls."

     Marceline groaned, but she knew that would've been smarter of her to ask Fionna first anyway, "Fionna, should I text her?"

     Fionna turned to look at Marceline, "Is she cute?"

     Marceline blushed, "W-what? How would I... What? No. I mean, not no. Maybe? No! What? I guess so? She's not... she's not,  **not** cute..."

     Fionna smiled, "Text her, kiddo."

     Marceline stared at Fionna, dumbfounded, "What?"

     "Text her. You want to."

     Marceline looked back down at her phone, "Okay..."

      **Subs sounds cool how about a movie night or something?**

**Draft**

Marceline held her phone up so Fionna could see what she had typed, "Is that good?"

     "Well... That depends, are you ready for a movie night?"

     "I don't know."

     Fionna rolled her eyes, "Just send it, Marceline."

     "Fine..."

      **Subs** **sounds cool how about a movie night or something?**

**August 27th 3:03 pm**

Marceline pulled up her text conversation with Ash and sent him a quick message explaining why she had been gone for a week before setting her phone down.

     "How long has it been since you guys came to town? I can't remember."

     Marceline's mom answered, "About 5 years now, I think. It's been a while."

     Marceline looked out the window, "Yeah, it really has been. You should visit more often."

     Marshall spoke up, "You know that won't happen. Just visit us when you graduate."

     Marceline sighed, but she knew there was no use in pushing them.

     Fionna turned to look at Marshall and Marceline, "There's no way your dad can really be that bad Marshall."

     Marceline's mom glanced at Fionna before looking back at the road, "The kids never got along with him. Marceline wanted to stay with little Bonnibel, but Marshall was ready to leave the moment he heard we were getting a divorce. Hudson is not a good man, I regret leaving Marceline with him every day, but it would be wrong to rip her away from the life she has here. Marshall was still young when we left."

     Marshall pulled at a loose thread from a hole in his jeans, "Fionna, my dad is too focused on work for a family, the only reason Marceline could stay was because Mom knew Simon would be there if things went bad."

     Marceline felt her phone buzz against her hand, it was Bonnibel.

**You want to talk? I figured I'd screwed that up already.**

**August 27th 3:12 pm**

**What do you mean? You havent done anything that could screw something up**

**August 27th 3:13 pm**

**I was a total bitch to you.**

**August 27th 3:13 pm**

**Whatre you talking about?**

**August 27th 3:13 pm**

Fionna frowned, "I don't understand. Why would he get married and have kids if he didn't want to?"

     Marshall scoffed, "Well isn't that the question of the century. Who knows? He's a dick."

     "Marshall! Don't use that kind of language in front of me, goodness. I'm your mother. It's disrespectful."

     Fionna laughed and Marshall looked out the window, clearly fed up with the topic of conversation.

      **What do you mean "what are you talking about", I was so rude on Monday.**

**August 27th 3:14 pm**

**Monday? What happened Monday?**

**August 27th 3:14 pm**

**What happened? Marceline, do you not remember?**

**August 27th 3:15 pm**

**I dont appear to remember**

**August 27th 3:15 pm**

**Well, I guess it's not really important. Are you free tonight?**

**August 27th 3:15 pm**

**Real eager to see me huh Bon? Im free**

**August 27th 3:16 pm**

**Awesome, text me what you want from Tronc D'arbre** **whenever you want to get things started. I'll meet you at your place with the subs.**

**August 27th 3:16 pm**

**Sounds good**

**August 27th 3:16 pm**


	24. Twenty-Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonnibel  
> Warning(s): Possible Eating Disorder Trigger

      **Veggie sub Ill pay you when you get here**

**August 27th 6:47 pm**

Bonnibel smiled down at her phone screen and typed out a quick reply.

       **I'll be there in 30 minutes.**

**August 27th 6:47 pm**

**Well that was fast someones eager to see me**

**August 27th 6:48 pm**

Bonnibel rolled her eyes and slid her phone into the pocket of her pale pink jeans. She dragged her bright pink bicycle out of the garage and rode down to Tronc D'arbre, which was about a 10-minute bike ride from her house, and only about 5 minutes away from Marceline's.

     "Benny! How are you today? You haven't come in for a while, are things going okay?" The short, elderly lady walked around the counter to greet Bonnibel at the door."I'm doing alright Ms. Arbre, I've just been busy with school lately. How are you?"

     "I'm doing alright Ms. Arbre, I've just been busy with school lately. How are you?"

     The woman smiled up at Bonnibel, "Oh, I'm doing wonderful sweetheart. Thank you so much for asking. What can I help you with today?"

     "I've just gotta pick up a veggie sub and... um, I think that'll be all actually."

     "A veggie sub? You've never ordered one of those before," Ms. Arbre laughed, "Got a hot date or something?"

     Bonnibel rolled her eyes, "Nah, I'm picking it up for Marceline."

     Ms. Arbre walked back behind the counter, "Marceline? I didn't realize you two were talking again. That's wonderful. Y'all were always such great friends. Are you not getting anything?"

     Bonnibel shook her head, "I'm not really hungry. I ate some earlier tod- woah! Hold up. No mayo, Ms. Arbre. Marceline hates mayonnaise."

     The old woman laughed and set down the bottle of mayonnaise, "No mayo for Marcy. Got it."

     "She likes mustard vinegar on her sandwiches," Bonnibel smiled and said (mostly to herself), "She hates it on everything else, though."

     "Still know her like the back of your hand I see," Ms. Arbre passed the wrapped up sub over the counter, "Just the sub?"

     Bonnibel nodded, "Yeah, just the sub."

     "Alright, that'll be three bucks then."

    Bonnibel pulled a five dollar bill out of her pocket, "Keep the change."

    Ms. Arbre smiled at Bonnibel, "You're too sweet. Get out of here and go see your friend."

    Bonnibel waved as she left the small restaurant and hopped onto her bike. She couldn't help but smile as she rode to Marceline's house, were they friends now? She didn't realize how much she'd missed them being friends. They used to see each other every single day, now Bonnibel couldn't remember the last time she'd seen Marceline before the previous week. Had they really had such a bad falling out as little kids that they would've stopped talking completely?

    Bonnibel came to a stop in front of Marceline's driveway and walked her bike to the black Porsche convertible parked in front of the garage. She and Marceline used to pester Marceline's mom to take them for rides in it whenever her father took the SUV to work, but she never did. Bonnibel looked at her reflection in the driver's side window and sighed, was this a good idea? After all, they had stopped talking for a reason, whether Bonnibel could remember it clearly or not. Bonnibel shook her head, it'd be fine, it was just one evening.

    Bonnibel turned away from the car window and walked to the front door the house. She stared at the doorknob and moved the sub back and forth between her hands, it wasn't too late to bail, she could just text Marceline and say that she forgot about some assignment or that Peter had decided to drop by or something. No one would have to know, it wouldn't change anything.

     "This is your last chance," she muttered to herself.

     Bonnibel slowly lifted her hand and pushed the doorbell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this was up so late  
> Please don't hate me x/


	25. Twenty-Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Marceline  
> Warning(s): Possible Eating Disorder Trigger

     Marceline pulled at a loose thread on the edge of the hole in the knee of her jeans, Bonnibel had said 30 minutes, she should be here by now. She stood up and grabbed her acoustic guitar from the corner of her room, beginning to strum on it absentmindedly. Marceline had just sat back down and started to piece together chords into a more coherent rhythm when she heard the doorbell ring throughout her father's house. She jumped up, leaving her guitar on her bed, and ran down the stairs, stopping a few feet away from the door so that she could prepare herself.

     "It's just Bonnie. You're just hanging out. As friends," Marceline muttered to herself.

     Marceline threw open the front door and flung her arms out to her sides, "Bonnie! You're here! I was beginning to wonder where you were," she hoped her smile seemed genuine.

     The blue-eyed girl on the other side of the threshold smiled back at Marceline, "Sorry, there were more people at Tronc than I'd expected."

     Marceline held eye contact for a moment, processing what Bonnibel had said, there were rarely more than three customers in Tronc D'arbre at any given time. Finally, she stepped aside and gestured for Bonnibel to come in. Marceline quickly led her friend upstairs, hoping that, despite the full house, no one would disturb them. She looked down the hallway to make sure that her brother's old room was still closed before opening the door to her own bedroom and allowing Bonnibel to move past her. Marceline cursed herself silently and shut the door behind her before running to move her guitar off of her bed.

     "Hey, Marce, where do you want this sub?"

     Marceline looked up, "Huh? Oh, shit- I mean, sorry. Um... just," she hesitated before holding out her hand, "Just give it here. I'll get your money. How much was it?"

     Bonnibel smiled and Marceline felt a heat starting to churn in her gut, "It's cool. Don't worry about it. Consider it an apology I guess."

     Marceline looked away, hoping it would help if she couldn't see the other girl, and frowned, "Thanks, but I still don't know what you're all up in arms about. If I don't remember it, it can't really be that important. It wouldn't be an issue to pay you."

     "Nah, it's all good, really. What were you thinking about watching?"

     Shit. Marceline hadn't thought of anything for them to watch, she'd been too busy trying to keep herself from going crazy over the thought of talking to Bonnibel, "It's up to you. We've got a pretty good selection and- hey, wait, where's your sub?"

     Marceline was pretty sure she heard Bonnibel mumble something before speaking up, "I had a bit of a heavy lunch. Didn't really want anything."

     Marceline sat down on the edge of her bed and began to unwrap her sub, "Oh, yeah, that makes sense," Marceline noticed Hambo out of the corner of her eye and quickly shoved him under her comforter.

     "Yeah, so do you want to watch something?"

     Marceline nodded, her mouth full of sandwich, and Bonnibel burst out laughing. The taller girl blushed and tried to chew her food more quickly as Bonnibel backed against her wall with her arms around her stomach. Bonnibel ended up on the floor beside Marceline's red bean bag chair and Marceline couldn't take her eyes off of her. She tore her eyes away from the girl on her floor and wrapped up the remainder of her sub, had Bonnibel's laugh always been so wonderfully melodic? She looked up once again as she heard her friend start to catch her breath and stop laughing.

     "It wasn't really that funny," Marceline mumbled.

     This sent Bonnibel into another fit of giggles causing Marceline's blush to spread even further across her face. Suddenly, there was a sharp knock on Marceline's door and Bonnibel stopped laughing almost instantly. Marceline could almost feel the barrier shooting back up between them like they were separated by a wall of glass.

     "Girls?" Marceline visibly relaxed, it was her mom, "You two doing alright in there?"

     Bonnibel spoke before Marceline got the chance to, "Yes ma'am. We're doing fine. Thank you."

     Marceline frowned, did Bonnibel really still feel the need to act so saint like towards people?

     "Wonderful. Marceline, your father and I are going out for a bit. We'll be home as soon as we can."

     Marceline's frown was quickly replaced by a broad smile, "Okay. Have fun."

     Marceline felt the mattress sink under the weight of someone sitting beside her. She looked to her right and found herself close enough to Bonnibel that their noses almost touched, she knew there was no way to hide the blush on her face now.

     "Hi, Marcy."

     "Hell.. hello Bon."

     The smaller girl smiled at Marceline, "Let's go watch something."

     Marceline nodded very slightly, for fear of touching Bonnibel in any way, "Let's go downstairs then."

     Bonnibel jumped up and nearly sprinted out of Marceline's room to the den.


	26. Twenty-Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Marceline

     Marceline slid in the DVD that Bonnibel had picked out of one of the shelved cases in the large room and sat down on the leather sofa across from the 75" flat screen television. Bonnibel was already curled up against an armrest of the sofa, so Marceline left a cushion of buffer room between them in favor of sitting in the corner where the couch turned to run along the back wall of the room.

     "Marcy?"

     Marceline looked over at Bonnibel, but she was still staring at the television, "Yeah?"

     "This might sound kind of weird and maybe a little bit rude, but when did you get so much money? I can barely recognize this as your house. I mean, you didn't even have a tv at all before, and I remember you spent 3 years saving your allowance in order to buy your first guitar. Now you've got, like, four new guitars and a couple basses on your wall, a piano and a drum set in what used to be your father's study, and at least 5 other string instruments I've never seen before in my life.

     Marceline looked down at the couch they were sitting on, it was certainly more expensive than the old loveseat they owned before, "Well, I guess we started to have some extra money after Mom and Marshall left. Then Mom got some kind of promotion at the office where she worked and runs the company or something absurd like that now. She sends a lot of money to me now and some to my father too. I get to do pretty much whatever I want with the money, though, I think everyone feels bad for me because Mom left and my father is pretty much always working."

     Bonnibel sat up and looked at Marceline, "That's crazy. It's pretty sweet, but it's crazy."

     "Yeah," Marceline laughed, "I know."

     "What instruments do you have now? I know you always wanted to play a bunch of different things, but I didn't realize you meant more than, like, four or five."

     "To be honest, I didn't realize that either. I guess after I learned guitar and the drums, things just because easy to learn and I had too much free time. I've got three acoustic guitars, counting my first one, two electric guitars, a music room grand piano, an acoustic fusion drum kit, an auxiliary drum set in the basement, one semi-acoustic bass, two electric basses, a balalaika, a 42-string Pikasso guitar, a crwth, a hardingfele fiddle, a torban lute, and a cello, violin, contrabassoon, and lever harp with the auxiliary drum set. Oh, and a ukulele. Soprano obviously."

     Bonnibel stared at Marceline, her mouth hanging open slightly.

     Marceline squirmed under Bonnibel's gaze, "Is that excessive?"

     "Excessive? You can play twenty-one instruments. How can you play twenty-one different instruments? You're fifteen!"

     Marceline laughed nervously, "I have a lot of free time?"

     Bonnibel rolled her eyes, "You're such a doofus."

     "Am not," Marceline huffed and crossed her arms, "Let's watch your dumb movie."

     Bonnibel gasped in a feigned offense, "The Princess Bride is a cinematic legend. Besides, you're the one who owns it."

     Marceline groaned dramatically, "Fiiiiiine. I guess it's okay, but we're watching Ghost Busters next."

     Bonnibel laughed, "Okay, okay. You're such a nerd. Just start the movie."

     "I'm not a nerd. You're a nerd."

     "Is that really your comeback?"

     "Yes."

     Bonnibel laughed again, "If you aren't going to start the movie give me the remote."

     Marceline stretched out her arm to hold the remote away from Bonnibel, "Over my dead body, Princess."

     Bonnibel leapt across the couch (and onto Marceline) and reached out for the remote, but Marceline held it farther away, "This isn't fair! Your arms are longer than mine."

     Marceline laughed and stretched her arm a little more, "What are you gonna do about it, Bonnibutt?"

     Marceline yelped as she felt Bonnibel's knee press into her gut and lost her grip on the remote. Bonnibel grabbed the remote almost instantly and smirked at Marceline, keeping her knee against the dark haired girl's stomach.

     "Shit. Fuck. Glob damn it. Bonnie that's not fair!"

     Bonnibel's smirk grew, "All's fair in love and war my friend."

     Marceline felt her cheeks heat up and hoped that the blush was faint enough to go unnoticed despite her pale skin, "So we're at war now, Princess? I don't know if I can take on an entire kingdom on my own, seems a little bit rude on your part if I do say so myself."

     "I never said we were at war."

     Okay, Marceline knew her blush was noticeable now, "Um... I.. You didn't... Uh..." Marceline stumbled over her words, her tongue no longer feeling coordinated with her mind.

     Bonnibel laughed and jumped off of Marceline, rushing back to her spot beside the armrest, "Hush up and watch the movie."

     Marceline reached up and flicked off the overhead light before casting a glance at Bonnibel. She looked so cute damn it. Just sitting there with her knees against her chest, her eyes glued to the screen. Marceline shook her head and looked back at the television where the movie was starting.

 


End file.
